Computer modeling of complex fluid flows usually presents great challenges for conventional grid-based numerical methods. Smoothed particle hydrodynamics (SPH) is a meshfree Lagrangian particle method and has special advantages in modeling complex fluid flows, especially those with large fluid deformations, fluid-structure interactions, and multi-scale physics. In this paper, we review the recent developments of SPH in methodology and applications for modeling complex fluid flows. Specifically, in methodology, some important issues including modified SPH particle approximation schemes for improving discretization accuracy, different particle regularization techniques, and various boundary treatment algorithms for solid boundary, free surface, or multiphase interface are described. More importantly, the SPH method with ideas from the dissipative particle dynamics for complex fluids in macro- or meso-scales is discussed. In applications, different complex fluid flows, including biological flows, microfluidics and droplet dynamics, non-Newtonian fluid flows, free surface flows, multiphase flows, and flows with fluid-structure interaction, are reviewed. Some concluding remarks in SPH modeling of complex fluid flows are provided.

The Berendsen barostat from molecular dynamics simulation is applied in both standard dissipative particle dynamics (DPD) and many-body dissipative particle dynamics (MDPD) simulations. The original Berendsen barostat works well in (M)DPD simulation of a single-component system under constant pressure condition and in nonequilibrium dynamic processes. The partial Berendsen barostat is proposed for multi-component system simulation with (M)DPD. The displacement rescaling process of the Berendsen barostat is only applied on the particles outside the center region, acting as a pressure “boundary condition.” The center part forms the free zone, in which the interface shape and nonequilibrium dynamic behavior between different phases can be captured properly. An immiscible bubble in the second fluid under constant pressure condition is studied, and the oscillation of the bubble radius and fluctuation of system pressure can be obtained by the current barostat. Preliminary models for bubble growing and collapsing under square pressure wave and bubble oscillation under harmonic pressure wave are also reported in the current simulation. It shows that the partial Berendsen barostat is suitable for the modeling of nonequilibrium process of single or few droplets/bubbles in multi-component systems.

Cell membrane (CM) coating technology is increasingly being applied in nanomedicine, but the entire coating procedure including adsorption, rupture, and fusion is not completely understood. Previously, we showed that the majority of biomimetic nanoparticles (NPs) were only partially coated, but the mechanism underlying this partial coating remains unclear, which hinders the further improvement of the coating technique. Here, we show that partial coating is an intermediate state due to the adsorption of CM fragments or CM vesicles, the latter of which could eventually be ruptured under external force. Such partial coating is difficult to self-repair to achieve full coating due to the limited membrane fluidity. Building on our understanding of the detailed coating process, we develop a general approach for fixing the partial CM coating: external phospholipid is introduced as a helper to increase CM fluidity, promoting the final fusion of lipid patches. The NPs coated with this approach have a high ratio of full coating (~23%) and exhibit enhanced tumor targeting ability in comparison to the NPs coated traditionally (full coating ratio of ~6%). Our results provide a mechanistic basis for fixing partial CM coating towards enhancing tumor accumulation.

We study numerically the propulsive wakes produced by a flapping foil. Both pure pitching and pure heaving motions are considered, respectively, at a fixed Reynolds number of Re = 1700. As the major innovation of this paper, we find an interesting coincidence that the efficiency maximum agrees well with the 2D-3D transition boundary, by plotting the contours of propulsive efficiency in the frequency-amplitude parametric space and comparing to the transition boundaries. Although there is a lack of direct 3D simulations, it is reasonable to conjecture that the propulsive efficiency increases with Strouhal number until the wake transits from a 2D state to a 3D state. By comparing between the pure pitching motion and the pure heaving motion, we find that the 2D-3D transition occurs earlier for the pure heaving foil than that of the pure pitching foil. Consequently, the efficiency for the pure heaving foil peaks more closely to the wake deflection boundary than that of the pure pitching foil. Furthermore, since we have drawn the maps on the same parametric space with the same Reynolds number, it is possible to make a direct comparison in the propulsive efficiency between a pure pitching foil and a pure heaving foil. We note that the maximum efficiency for a pure pitching foil is 15.6%, and that of a pure heaving foil is 17%, indicating that the pure heaving foil has a slightly better propulsive performance than that of the pure pitching foil for the currently studied Reynolds number.

The inertia plays a significant role in the response of a system undergoing flow-induced vibrations, which has been extensively investigated by previous researchers. However, the inertial effects of an energy harvester employing the mechanism of flow-induced vibrations have attracted little attention. This paper concentrates on a semi-passive energy extraction system considering its inertial effects. The incompressible Navier-Stokes equations are solved using a finite-volume based numerical solver with a moving grid technique. A partitioned method is used to couple the fluid and structure motions with the sub-iteration technique and an Aitken relaxation, which guarantees a strong fluid-structure coupling. In addition, a fictitious mass is added to resolve the numerical instability aroused by low density ratios. First, at a fixed mass ratio of r = 1, we identify an optimal set of parameters, at which a maximum efficiency of η = 34% is achieved. Further studies with r ranging from 0.125 to 100 are performed around the optimal parameters. The results show that for the semi-passive flapping energy harvester, the energy harvesting efficiency decreases monotonically with increasing mass ratio. We also notice that the total power extraction stays at a high level with little variation for r < 10; therefore, if we concern more about the amount of power extraction rather than its efficiency, the inertial effects can be neglectable for r < 10. Moreover, since one degree of freedom is released for the semi-passive system, it is possible for the system to automatically determine its optimal operational parameters. We note that the optimal phase difference ϕ = 82° has been well determined, which leads to a good timing of vortex-foil interactions. We note two different trends on phase difference for the effects of reduced frequency and mass ratio, respectively. By varying the reduced frequency f^∗, an optimal f^∗ is identified, at which the minimum phase difference is achieved. While the relationship between phase difference and mass ratio is monotonic, a maximum phase difference is achieved at the nearly zero mass ratio. Nevertheless, both trends point to the same optimal phase difference, i.e., ϕ = 82° at θ₀ = 75°. Furthermore, the relationship between the leading edge vortex and the phase difference is systematically investigated, accounting for the physical reason of existence of the optimal phase difference.